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Zotz decals is now preparing five sets of 5 profiles ea. for the Red Pill F-4B/N new kit. Also, another set for the RF-4C in the Vietnam war. We are finishing a set of B-26 B/C Marauders for the 1/48 ICM kit. (Wanted a 1/32 kit, maybe coming later?) Good times (hopefully) coming soon. Thanks

It was quite a ride, but I have a Malcolm Hood mechanism to show you. This is what I am trying to represent: The chains, the emergency release pushrods, the sprocket support fittings, the crank handle, the emergency release handle, and the black cover plates. Not the cross-tube. That comes later. First, just as what happened so many times back in the 1940's when -B's and -C's were getting their hoods, I had to relocate the recognition light switch box on the windshield frame. From here: To here: Had to be done to clear the new crank handle. All the parts printed up pretty well. There is alot of small detail, especially the chain itself, so I went with the 3 micron thickness setting on the printer (I normally use 5 micron). After careful removal of supports, and carefully painting, I got this collection of details: The black plates are not 3D printed - just old fashion scratch build. Ok that was the easy part. Installing these details into the airplane was hard - a most stressful and "stimulating" experience, trying to pry into a small space all these parts without breaking anything. I broke one of the chains, but had a spare and used it. Everything else worked out OK. Pictures: The 3D printed chains are a success, I am happy to announce. Let's see the finished mechanism in the fuselage jig: I need to do a better job painting up the rollers - I know. But that comes later. Glad to put this sub-project in the rear view mirror! Next I believe is the lower radio floor and the fuselage tank. I've been waiting forever to get started on that. Hope you like the chain drive! Later.

Ok, here we go.... This is my latest attempt at the F-16 by Tamiya. I tried the Thunderbirds kit a long, long time ago but got stressed out and binned it (this was long before it went OOP). Fast forward to now...I saw the latest Have Glass V scheme on the Block 50 aircraft and decided to: Create a model based on the HG V scheme Create decals for at least one aircraft (I ended up creating markings for three so I have a choice). TBD - I've still got some outstanding decals to create, mostly stencils for the pylons and things like that. Aside from the F-16 kit, I've assembled a good selection of aftermarket to include: Quinta Studios F-16 cockpit set Phase Hangar Resin JHMCS sensor (for the canopy rail) Reskit AIM-120Cs Reskit AIM-9X Reskit GBU-54 bombs Reskit BRU-57 SMART bomb rack Reskit F110-GE Exhaust Nozzle (Open) Wolfpack Aces II Seats (Late) Eduard GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs w/BRU-51 rack I'm still on the hunt for Master AOA probes and possibly, a set of static dischargers although I can probably create these myself with the stainless rod and tube I have in-house...we'll see. I'd love to get a set of stabilators from Kopecky Scale Models but I'm too late there...all sold out. So, where to start? I decided on the AN/ALQ-131(V) deep pod... No particular reason other than it's as good a place as any. The Reskit 131 pod looks absolutely fantastic in the box and when coupled with the Kopecky Scale Models AN/ALQ-131 pylon, it'll be dynamite! There are three main parts, the two ends and the body...simple. The fit is pretty good. The mounting lugs, electrical connection (at least that's what I think it is) and the 4 stabilizer points (again, not knowing what they're actually called) fit into the drilled holes on the top. Each part has positive locating pins and in order to make sure it fits correctly, you need to have the pylon you're going to use handy or you may be sorry later on. The electrical connection (immediately in front of the forward mount lug) sits in a recessed box; again, with a positive locator on the parts. I'm trying to make my photographs informative (like the ones Chuck does in his builds) so I've added commentary to the photos. Next up will be primer and a coat of 36375, gloss coat then decals. Yes, the Reskit pod (and indeed a lot of their other items) come with decals.

Thanks Richard, "simple and easy" camouflage, but in the end, it's more complicated and difficult to paint than I thought! I'll go on with the small details, which are very time-consuming. The propeller has a white cross on one of its 3 blades to harmonize the cockpit gun sight and the weapons. This cross is clearly visible on the photos of the finished aircraft. So, with the Cameo switched on, the mask is placed on the propeller blade, and here's the result: Exhaust pipes: of course, I masked as much as possible to protect the camouflage, then painted with exhaust metal, then bronze and finally tan. And to finish the day, I placed and glued the 2 fuel level indicators on each wing, from Eduard :

Okay, so anyway here we are now... Ready for primer. The first coat of Yellow green has gone on, since these photos were taken. More on this story as events unfold...

Two hours tonight spent on the instrument panel! ..and I think it was worth it. Doing an IP this way pushes the old decaling skills. For me, the art is to try and hit that sweet spot where you have enough water on the decal to allow you to manoeuvre it, but not too much so you flood and disturb what you've already done.. Got the seat constructed and painted too.

And the aircraft now has horizontal tails! Fit here, at least topside, is quite excellent. Work also continues on the wings, and once again, raised surface marks from the ejector pins, have all been smoothed out with a fine sanding stick. I actually feel like I’m making genuine progress here now, and that certainly pleases me a bunch. Thoughts?

So, I took this with me this week on a little vacation. I tend to work on other projects in this mode. This trip I got back to the Eindecker and those PAINFUL resin and brass wheels. Shown are the halves.

32052 F-15C Canopy frame (for Tamiya kit) is ready, finally.... Details on www.kopeckyscalemodels.com

A small update

Sometimes they come back! in the last few days I have been busy examining the shelf of doom trying to save from oblivion the works that were briefly incomplete. in this case, after countless attempts to make a frozen puddle I gave up and was pleased (well, more or less) with the last attempt. to begin with, some photos of the plane complete with the last missing details: doors, controls for folding the wings, air intakes. I added a little mud from below, without exaggerating. the engine has the possibility of being partially - or completely - exposed, thanks to the magnets embedded in the thickness of the cowling. and to conclude the whole story, some photos of the completed diorama, puddle or no puddle. the officer won a scarf out of order and all the other insignia, ranks and various insignia by Alliance Model Works decals, splendid. and I fixed one... some other updates coming soon! Cheers everyone and thanks for participating, Paolo

I find this photo fascinating for a variety of reasons. The fourth bomb back ( a 500 pounder I presume), show evidence of the shipping ring locations as a darker green color than the others. The four rearward bombs (1,000 pounders)), show distinct differences; reddish brown band vs darker green ones, different tail and nose yellow markings, and the third large one seems to be not only a really faded OD, but also has what I assume is yellow stenciling vs the black on all the others. Also, the 500 pounders all have a very thin yellow band around the middle, whereas the other larger bombs do not.

The Main Course is brailed up. The painting below shows several ships at Fighting Sail. You can see that the Courses have all been brailed up vs either clewed up or furled; which was a very very common configuration. Brailing up the Courses was done for three primary reasons. First, it reduced both damage to the Courses and the chance of fire - always a deadly threat to wooden ships. Second it reduced strain on the Fore and Main masts and the rigging generally. Courses were not really needed for close in maneuvering and not having them deployed also meant that not as many crew were required to work the sails during battle. Finally the command section and quartermasters steering did not have their forward view impeded while at their battlestation on the Quarterdeck. I tried to get my Main Course to look close to those in the painting. The first step to brailing up a Course is to pull the clew lines until the corners are pulled up past the mid-line of the course. I chose to work one side of the main course one line at a time as I am a crew of one <grin>. The shot below show how the course looks with the clew lines under light tension. Close up of the clew blocks. These would have been touching, or nearly so, when the corners of the course were pulled up. As an aside, I am still researching whether the sheet and tack lines would have been run through their respective blocks at the corners when a course was brailed up; and if they were not run where were the lines placed. Next the leech line was drawn until the edge of the course was pulled into a triangular like fold located at the top front outer part of the sail. The two photos below show the end result. In the first shot you can make out the triangular section in the upper right part of the sail/yard. The bunt lines were then worked to raise the center part of the course. Again, two photos, one fore the other aft, show the bunt lines under light tension as the course is worked into shape. The final aft and fore shots show the near final result. I only have to do some minor shaping of the folds and then brush on a final coat of whits glue thinned 50/50 with water to fix the shape of the course. As the course is fairly loosely bunched it could be quickly deployed if required. I just need to place the Top Yard and sail back into position and the main mast will be ready to step. Ernest

Hi there! I am a bit late, the EME was back in March, but now it's time to show you my photos of the large plane models. The was a surprisingly large number of LSP models this year, also a good number of newly builds. Even a whole Ju-88 diorama! But let's start with some gossip Revell: They had a booth for one day, but I missed them on that day. Too much other activities. So I was not able to renew the question for a new LSP kit by Revell or a re-relaease of the Ju-88 kit(s). HMH Publications /Duke Hawkins books: Had a diner with the pulisher at Bruxelles. Talking about some contributions to upcoming books as well as how to improve my photographs. Not to forget to taste a good share of Belgish beers (this was my part ) (Heck, there are 1.200 different beers in Belgium!). Main news: HMH will come up with a Bf 109K-4 book at the release of the Kotare kit. 100 or so photos of different K-4, a lot of color profiles and so on. And with a set of large scale decals for the K-4, a la the Hurricane set. Side news: Another book about the 109 is pending. HMH would like to bring a book about the Fw 190 too, but they are lacking photos of an aircraft with a mounted BMW engine. Not on display, but bolted onto an airframe. Recent flying 190s are all equipped with Shevtsov engines, that's the problem here. Copper State Models: Had a longer conversation with the owner. Well, the upcoming Hansa-Brandenburg (IIRC, not sure about the type) biplane looks very, very nice in the flesh. They had a 3D-printed prototype with them at the EME. The engine mold is at hand from another of the CSM kits. Talk about synergies. But, -but!- they just have to sell more of the older kits to earn the money needed to cut the molds for the new aircraft kit. It will come injetion molded as always by CSM, not 3D printed. The print was just the proof of concept for the new kit. I did what I could and bought a Garford-Putilov kit with extras. The CSM owner did not hesitate to dive into his sourced to advise me about the useful update sets for my preferred marking options (and to tell me what AM is not needed too). I've also bought two sets of CSMs spoked wheels. No need to fiddle with PE spokes and tire halvs, just ready to paint. Man, these are really, really nice wheels! Insider stuff: Riga (Latvias capital) is not worth a visit. If you want to see the Baltic states, go to Tallin (capital of Estonia). Next year the EME will become 25 years old! Don't miss to pay a visit! That's it for the gossip. Photos next to come. Regards - dutik

I remember them well, great inspiring pictures which really sold the kits to me. happy birthday. Cheers Dennis

Yep, that's me too, the list would depend on what day it is ... what time it is ... what'd I have for breakfast ... ???

Seat now gets some colors slopped on (Tamiya). While already painting the seat, I went ahead and touched up the rockets as well. A dark wash (Vallejo) makes them look pretty decent now, toning down the yellow warheads some.

Looks like I'll have to kick this off myself then. Here's the proof of the pudding that the shipping rings were indeed metal of some sort.

Ooh, Me 262 goodies! Seats from Ultracast and Eagle decals. Once the Eduard Look panel arrives, I can jump back into this one. Those with hawk eyes may recognize that the decals are the wrong scale for this kit, but were ordered for the 1:32 kit (Trumpeter) that I'll be starting in September. This 1:48 kit will bear the same scheme though (yellow 2), despite the color call outs seeming a bit “iffy”.

And resupply U-boats, providing fuel, munitions and food supply to the other attack boats. The story is quite interesting. I stalled a bit on the forward torpedo room because of the empty foreground. Trumpeter wants you to simply place two air tanks there but that leaves a lot of empty spaces and play against the cramped area I want to try to depict with this build. These tanks are not correctly located and are partly under the bunks. But if I build bunks on top of them they will be too high so I decided to cut the floor, create a 3D piece to mirror the opposite side and display the lower bunks. The tanks are relocated and attached from above. If I add a floor for them I'll hide too much of the torpedo storage room under the floor of the room. That's not perfect but the best compromise I could come up with. I intend to show a lot of supplies throughout the boat and try to render the mess it must have been in there with 40-50 stinking males confined in there. I went to cult-3D and downloaded as much stuff as possible and scaled them to 48th scale. Plates, coffeepots, cooking pots, rice bags, potatoes bags, tin cans, fruit cases, salads, carrots, 88mm shells & cardboard casings, etc . All these will compliment nicely what I could gather from black dog supplies. I just haven't found ham and sausages yet but I want them to hang from the floor and I am thinking about hanging hammocks full of supplies from the roof of the torpedo room. Here's very early impression of what I am leaning to: I am also debating to put 2 more torpedoes on the floor as it was often done, must made the crew life really difficult

Bought this lovely kit : The wings are meant to be "butt glued" to the fuselage. Ik glued a small block on the inside of the fuselage and drilled small holes to attach needles for extra strength : This little shelf sits behind the rear seat. I filed the top to let it fit over the blocks : The inside of the fuselage got some medium grey color : Made the seatbelts from tape and copperwire : The pedals were made from 0,1mm copperwire (they look huge in this photo) : Sincerely Pascal

Right on! I'd like to do some of 100group's electronic jamming birds along with some pathfinder machines in addition to the S.O.E. birds ,lots of examples to chose from. I've noticed an up tick in interest for the Halifax and rightly so ! I'd be better off all around to have it in 48th , but if the price is right............... I've always been more interested in the Halifax than the Lanc or even the American machines , don't ask me why 'cuz I don't know it's just a thing with me.

Hi Mike, and you're absolutely right. This lifting hole was plugged on my photo, and this is confirmed by these 2 photos taken on a Yak 9 in a museum: I placed some acrylic putty in these 2 holes and "closed" them.

Paul, yeah, I tend to go for Yahu panels.. (See my recent P-47 build!), but I used the kit decals for the IP on my previous Kotare mid build and thought they were great. So, I fully intend to go the same route with this early version! Here's my previous go at it, which I was pleased with, but I want to make this one even better!

Today was Propeller finishing day (i hope!) Up next: Troubleshooting the windscreen...

Hi all, not having found an appropriate section where introduce myself, I'll do here: Paolo, writing from Italy (and my english is a little rusty, so please be patient with it). I have resumed modeling after the classic hiatus due to real life, family, work, you name it all. now I have some unexpected free time, and I decided to start projects that I thought I would keep for retirement, anticipating the times. being a 1/32-35 scale fan, I now and then have a look here. really great show, gents! the "click" that moved me to sign up was a work done here by a senior member that build a kit more or less in the same days I did it too, with the very same premises, and adopting a bunch of solutions with very same mental shape. I was really astonished by that, realinzing that if I was here at that building time, not only I would have the chanche by learn a lot on that specific kit, but maybe I may give my little contribution on it. but, being that build completed, I propose here a project still on the bench on these days. all started form this picture: actually I have the Revell box on the stash since at least 15 years, and the original sprues were Hasegawa from late 70ies, nevertless I found this kit a little (well, not so little) gem. to wich, in the years, I have added some aftermarket items. I started scaling up some drawings from 1/35 to 1/32 and checking the cuts to be done in the aft fuselage to obtain a D-1. being here, to test the styrene response, I cut out the rudder and the elevators from the horizontal stabilizer as you may see, there are some little differencies in the shape of the control surfaces, according to the drawings. I decided to be not so picky, and carry on leaving these as are. being a little more suspicious, I should have check also the other measures... later we'll see I made a mistake, trusting blindly the profiles. so, dragged by enthusiasm, I opened the rear doors and modified the windows, cutting away the few internal details of the fuselage, and rebuild them with evergreen round profiles. to be continued... cheers, P.

Wow! That's something new and unusual. Nice job, thanks for sharing (and keep going).

... a new day in a new year and a new project ...

New project; This is 1/32 Trumpeter P-47D 22 with the markings of "Kansas Tornado"

For quite some time (well into two years now), I've been trying to sort out WWII US bomb markings and shipping rings, the rings in particular. I‘ve found data that indicates that different charges were denoted by different yellow bands, but even in that regard, there seems to be a general lack of consistency. It seems that sometimes actual bands are painted on the bombs themselves to mark the location of the rings, but that idea may well be a false one, and was really not needed anyway, as the rings just protected/covered the lifting lugs. While the bands themselves mostly were metal, or appear to have been, for quite a while I thought they were two pieces, but I now believe that at least part of the time, they were one piece affairs instead. The bands seem to have had a U-shaped cross section, and may or may not have had gaskets. Any and all discussion and photo examples of any data pertaining to this subject would be most welcome. Thanks a bunch, fellas,

I appreciate the support, fellas, I really do. My initial "knee jerk" reaction was to just trash it, but I now believe it may yet be salvageable. Top of the dark blue band looks nice and straight, as it should be, so perhaps I can carefully mask and redo the rest after all. Either way, for various reasons, it probably won't be finished for the show in June, which sucks, but may eventually still turn into a decent looking model.

Oh wow, I almost had a minor coronary.... I was reading through the Tamiya instruction booklet and I realized that the AIFF "bird slicer"antennae are not on the instruction sheet... Slipping into a mild panic, I came upstairs to discover that the part IS there in the kit, it's just not called out in the instructions. Nothing like going from 70 to 200 bpm and then back to 70 in 2 minutes or less.... Anyway, I've started work on this project (FINALLY!). I've got a beautiful Reskit AN/ALQ-131 pod and the requisite centerline pylon from Kopecky Scale Models. As I get moving, I'll start a thread for those that may be interested. It's gonna be a wild ride! Thank God Chuck has his F-16 build for me to reference and using the same reference book as he had (F-16C/D Viper Guide by Reid Air Publications). I have an idea on how to tackle those damn wingtip position lights...but I've gotta do a little bit of thinkin on it before committing knife/saw to plastic. WIP Thread

A successful weekend, hard but I managed to do everything I had planned and also had enough time to spend some time with the model. The last workshop photos and the rest is already in the gallery and I invite you to look at it. The next model in 48 will be a bit exotic for me and also from an old box in the wardrobe.

Hello all, this is something i've been working for a while....the Tamiya F-16 There isn't much to say about this kit that most haven't already said as its quite an old-ish kit now and been covered a lot, but I'll add to its plaudits. Nice detail and fitting isn't an issue anywhere on the kit. I added some extra detail into the undercarriage bays using various thicknesses of solder wire, Red Fox Studio's cockpit set, mine own mask sets (DM Scale Models) for the insignia and tail codes plus my 'inspection hatches, stencil masks and canopy' set. Paints used were all by Gunze, C305 and C306 were the basic colours and various parts were base colours plus white for variation. I hope you like it :-)

Getting back onto the subject at hand - the Malcolm Hood drive and emergency release mechanisms, I have finally got Rhino 3D representations of the parts (13 in all) that I will 3D print. It was a bit of an integration nightmare, as alot of stuff gets crammed in between the flanges of the upper longerons. And my longeron flanges are thicker than the real thing by a good bit (scaled of course). Also my longerons are not quite as wide as the real thing, to account for my skin gages, which are also thicker than the real thing (scaled). This all works against me shrinking the space to work with. Neverthless here are some hard won details that I hope will look representative once painted and assembled (assuming they print up OK): Yup - you are looking at a 3D printed chain (with sprockets). I measure, from the pictures I have, a 1/2 inch pitch and about 1/2 inch wide. Scale to 1/18, and the links are much smaller than I could scratch build (something I managed to do on the Corsair tail wheel door mechanism a while back - but the chain was a bit larger). It is alot to ask of my printer - we shall see. You also see other details that have had a whole lot of artistic license applied to them. Shortly I hope to show you the actual parts installed into the fuselage side panels. Stay tuned!

The engine was placed inside the cowling

Some progress on the engine

Today's update

Today's update Cockpit is finished.

Here we go First step is the cockpit as usual. I used Eduard instrument panel. Trumpy's rudder pedals are wrong. So I replaced them with Hasegawa 's part.

Thanks men, I'm making an effort (and it is an effort) to minimize all my future builds as simple shelfies and get more finished . So as I said, I thot the first OD was too green and needed to be more brown (like the picture). The first OD was SMS OD. The second color is MRP OD #41 which is better but still not brown enough so I added a light coat of MRP Dark Earth in a disruptive (not mottled) pattern. This I like alot better. @Biggles87 asked if the dreaded LE inserts fit like the roots. No. The port wing is better than the starboard but they both need 'some' work. OK now I need to shoot the bottom side neutral gray. Thanx

Good day/evening everyone; a little more progress to report on the Wasp in terms of the hydraulic system now finished (bar a couple of minor details) after a couple of false starts. Replies first, then the grisly detail: That's most kind of you Guy. I must confess that this helicopter has had the same effect upon me as letting your eyes adapt to the dark, the longer I stare at it the more detail seems to appear! That's enormously kind of you Meindert. I've just been admiring your Vampires and Venoms: splendid stuff! My pleasure Pete and thanks to you for those kind words. From someone routinely producing work of your depth and quality that is very heartwarming to hear indeed. Decent of you Craig. Cheers! Proper job Tim. I keep in training Max by watching the series' with Jeremy Brett... This is the one where he's explaining to Mrs.Hudson the exact formula for mixing EDSG... I think that episode was called The Case of the Erroneous Quantity of Blue.... Having threatened to finish the hydraulic system for the Wasp off on at least one prior occasion I can finally say that it is all but there, though not without a bit of a cognitive wrestling match regarding what in fact goes where. It all stems from this agglomeration lurking to port beside the main rotor gearbox on the real thing: Having given the feature only a cursory examination in the past it was with some qualms that a careful study from all angles revealed it not to be a simple box-like affair with only a few encrustations to consider but rather an elaborate three-dimensional puzzle, one requiring some simple sketches to work out its essential character in space: Briefly stated this feature consist of a sheet metal carcase surmounted by a reservoir for hydraulic fluid, with a cylindrical accumulator to the front. Which sounds rather like the world's worst coat of arms when you say it out loud like that. It gets even worse when you add in all the fittings and fixtures sprouting forth from it at various angles. In photos there are particular viewpoints where certain details are masked by the cabin or gearbox supports, or even other parts of the hydraulic structure itself, so that you really need the maintenance drawings to hand to compare with what you're seeing. Also of course it's critical that such a prominent feature on that side of the engine deck be correct in the matters of scale and orientation inaccuracy will scream to the eye. As on any occasion when faced by something complex, it's often best to start simple and add complexity in stages, meaning in this instance, forming the mounting plate detail as an integrated surface detail on the engine deck: Those locating slots then allow the interlocking sheet metal (PE in the kit) base to be installed securely: With that eyeballed in for accuracy, you can start adding in the major features such as the cylindrical accumulator to the front: -and hydraulic reservoir atop the thing: I'm going to hollow out that sight level on the rear facing side of the tank to form a small chamber that a coloured fluid can be introduced into and then sealed behind some transparent plastic, mimicking the effect of a fluid level on the real thing. It might seem a bit OTT but at 1/24th any trompe l'oeil painting effects won't I think past muster to give the appearance of a liquid content. Plus it turns the Wasp into a handy sprit level for any shelf it sits upon.... With those 'landmark' items in place, smaller details could then be aded to the inboard: and outboard sides of the assembly: Another addition will be to replace the (currently an embossed feature on the side of the metal sheet next to the accumulator) prominent (Mk.14H) pressure gauge with a 3d printed reproduction. At this point I'd begun to realize/shudder at just how many pipes and hoses were invvolved in this part of the Wasp's system, so again just gritted the teeeth and started simple: - getting a little bolder with each subsequent addition: - until basically you have The Raft of the Medusa sitting before you: The bulk of those hoses are in fact accounted for by the three cyclic pitch control servos produced in the previous update. Over to starboard was an additional detail (one which I'd not noticed previously) in the form of a metal bracket supporting the hydraulic hoses as they thread underneath the main gearbox: The hydraulic system itself is driven by this pump on the lower port side of the main rotor gearbox: T. L. Ciastula's seminal 1964 article - The Development of the P.531 - contains an outstanding description of how this pump draws power from the main drive shaft via interlocking gears in terms that even this layperson can understand. There's corresponding pump mounted to starboard for the oil system. Some synoptic images to end on which give an idea of how the hydraulic network threads in amongst the existing features of the engine deck: As in previous occasions I'm using 0.3mmØ as the minimum practicable diameter to build things like hoses from later on using jewellery wire and a bending rig: Thanks for looking in and it's a pleasure receiving comments from such a knowledgable crew. Take care until next time, Tony

One reason I want to build this is the spoke wheels option the kit provides. Apparently that is a configuration though many had covers too.

Hi Brett! Yes - I'm building this as XT778 from HMS Ambuscade, of which there are some great shots of their Wasp here showing it with the floation gear in place: http://www.ambuscade.org.uk/Images/Slideshows/David Marchant/album/index.html For a long time I wasn't sure which actual Wasp subject I wanted to build - I liked the 'classic' torpedo loadout yet have a bit of a fetish about building that APX/BEZU sight used for the AS.12 loadout; however I always assumed that combination was mutually exclusive until seeing this photo of XT778 with both torpedo AND sight. Now I can combine both it seems without appearring inauthentic... Indeed - it's great to meet someone like yourself with first hand experience, so please don't hesitate to call out my mistakes! A quick update to explain why progress will be a little slow on this phase of the build. It's largely down to this: Yep. The blade-fold. At this larger scale I have the luxury/hubris of trying things I couldn't at smaller sizes, so here I want the blade fold to be a working mechanism, along with the tail-fold. In actual fact this doesn't add much in the way of additional complexity to the build as even in static form I would be having to solve identical problems of part strength. The key vulnerable area turns out to be the fork into which the main rotor blades fit: You can see above the basics of the folding mechanism, whereby a locking pin is removed to enable the blades to pivot back in the fork toward the support cradle, whilst at the same time 'pip-pins' on the spider of the pitch change arms are removed to allow two of the blades to be tilted down in pitch as well to fit into the cradle like so: Even though UV resin can be much stronger than it appears, it's nowhere near strong enough for the 'fingers' of said fork to support the weight of the blades without making them grossly oversize or filling in areas which should be clear, so I'm going to experiment with casting the forks from aluminium for strength. Never tried this before, hence the slow pace, but at least the furnace is now built, from an old gas cylinder: In additon to work on this, I've been making further adjustments to the CAD designs, based upon results of the initial test prints: As with the blade forks, the hinges of the tail-fold also turned out to be too frail in resin alone so you can see in the above shot that I removed the lower part from both top and bottom hinges and cut slots instead for 0.4mm thick brass PE to be provide a much stronger solution: With the same process now used as well on the complementary hinge on the tailcone side of the fold: Once fitted together that combination should provide the required level of strength without disturbing visual authenticity: These unsightly bars across the centre: - will be hidden on the finished thing behind the bulkhead on each half of the tail-fold: Thanks for looking in and more as it develops. Tony

thank you for the attention! sure I won't try to move the undercarriage legs for any reason, it seems to me a miracle that it seats on these without troubles! well, it's time to arrange a decent base for the scene I have in mind. assembled a simple "mc-standard" wooden flat base, I tried different elements configurations, this one seems to be the winner: the area on the right of the airplane remains a little bit empty, but that's it. the focus of the action is on the stretcher bearers, so I drew an imaginary line on the stretcher's axle toward the two standing men near the cockpit, letting the left wing and fuselage lines working as orthogonal lines to force if not the prospective, at least the observer's view. well, more or less. wanting to give a title to the diorama, one could be "back home ticket", I guess... ok, I think this is the best arrangement with the available elements, I'm not enthusiast about that, there isn't any of the pathos of the bundesarchiv's image, may be more dinamic posture of the figures should work better, but I'm not a sculptor, no way about that. so, I'm trying some kinds of materials and effects to cover the base, this is something closer I want to obtain: a sligthly, wind blown, dry snow covered terrain. to be continued... cheers, Paolo

here I am, I checked the wheel track, and as you may see, it's 112mm, considering the centre wheel as datum. that means a difference of +20cm in the real aircraft, a difference I can deal with, considering the excursion of the whole landing gear structure and the presence on board of two stretchers and a man. either, is possible to adjust it (not in this phase, obviously) bending the metal core of the legs and adjusting these in the holes drilled in the lower parts of the undercarriage, an operation that I wouldn't try, definetly. here we say "don't wake up the sleeping dog", you know... cheers, Paolo

Madness should be one of LSP’s house bands. Beautiful work, Paolo. I’m taking notes. Adam

thank you all, I'm really glad it ecounters your approvation! today I show the last steps before camo painting and the figures, next to be called completed. in a session nearer to the ship in a bottle modeling than aircraft one, I build up the last cockpit internal structure. this kind of support seems to be peculiar of the D-1 type, being necessary to support in the closed position the hinged down big rear windows. port side, opened, and starboard side, closed. then I added the inspection doors made by plasticard discs on the wing surface and PE fuel and oil filling doors. here also the central step pad, made by alu foil from a cheese packaging. and the strange double fixed vertical fin trim tab, for this one I used anchovy paste tube (yes, I spent quite some time in kitchen, also). what else... I drilled out a number of drain holes in the underwing and added Archer decal rivets and stitching, wonderful products. that's it for external details. I added also on the fuselage flare tube, fuel drain plug, blocks for the folding wings and rudder rod cover, but I think these are not worth specific pictures, we'll see these after, possibly. about the stretcher bearers, I think that I have reached my limit. they need just some mud to be armonized with the dio base. I also arranged the last two figures, a pilot and an officer, these still need much more attention to be completed. well, that's it for today... next step, some RLM colors on the aircraft! cheers, P.

thank you, Antonio! yes, digging on the books i have and on the web I found at least two images of GA +TH, W.nr. 5228. I hope to do not harm anyone posting those here, the only intent is on behaf of study and discussion. the two pictures says some interesting things, to me: this aircraft has been in the standard splinter scheme, but also, in a period of his operational life, it sported whitewash camo and skis instead of the wheels. also, we have the proof that it crashed, in a moment of its life. that's very important to me to quiet down the anxiety due to the kit's high and apparently flimsy landing gear, so, in case it should not be strong enough, I may depict the bad landing scene! needing a couple of stretcher for the diorama I have in mind, I built two of these with wood and kleenex, and started to assemble two patients and four carriers: the four have a mix of Hermann Goering division's uniforms that attest the period between 1943 and 1944, but being the scene I want to depict pure speculation, I will leave the things as are, I'll just use resin heads. cheers, P.

thank you, in this episode we speak about three different areas: 1) cockpit. I started, after some considerations, to paint the interior. I convinced myself to use RLM66 in the front office, and RLM02 in the back area and in the engine compartment. actually in some pictures the rear stretcher area seems almost white, but it doesn't make too much sense, so i opted for the 02. 2) tail area. while the cockpit colors where drying, I worked in this area, cutting down the kit's slots to connect horizontal stabilizer and fuselage. here before the cure, ...and after. after some filling and sanding on the fuselage, here is the result: now the tailplane seats as should be, connected with the fuselage by two axles, being the aft one pivoting, and the fore one moving up and down, giving the pilot the power to trim the plane's pitch up or down. the third axle is obviously the elevator axle, connected with the up/down controls of the cloche. well, at this point I may close the fuselage halves, and start to add little details from outside. here throttle and mixture controls; flaps cranck handle and chain (wrong position of the latter); trim indicator; panel light; pilot's seat with back folding seat; aileron control rod and so on. I also painted the interior of the windows, adding the compass (managing to put the decal upside down, bravo) and its light. 3) engine area. the kit's engine is pretty nice, and quite complete, although a little bit poor in deep of details. so I tried to cut deeper cylinder's cooling blades with a micro saw, here before the subsequent passage with sandpaper to rectify these. also, the upper cowling is molded as one piece togheter with the fuselage. so I decided to cut off the cowling, and try to build the engine capable to be seen, assembling the cowling inserting micro magnets within the thickness of the cowlings panels, so it can be open on demand. then I added few plugs and wires to the engine, and started painting it. well, for tonight it seems to me enough to bore you, so I'll quite here. to the next episode! greetings, P.